Dear Kelly, thank you so much for this lovely comment; I'm delighted that you liked the fic. To be honest, I was a little nervous, as you had listed 'Minerva as a young woman' as one of your 'dealbreakers'... but I went ahead hoping that it would be ok to include as part of the fic, not the focus of the fic. *sheepish*... - but, phew, you liked it! :-)
I'm particularly pleased that the banter and sparring worked for you, here, as that was how I imagined the heart of the story: essentially, two quite-different equals who like arguing. *g* That comes with some nuance, though, in that we see how the interactions affect Minerva deep-down; she's perhaps not as impervious as she seems. I was imaging that Rufus wasn't either - he's just terrible at showing it, until the very end(!)
- Speaking of 'the very end', I'm also glad to hear that the sense of a bittersweet conclusion came across to you on reading this. I toyed with the idea of giving the fic a more explicit coda (where Minerva attends Rufus' funeral), but I finally decided not to... thinking that perhaps letting the reader make that link with canon for him/herself might actually be more effective than spelling it out. Mmmm. *ponders*.
Finally, I'm really glad that you liked the sex-in-the-staffroom scene! This is daily_deviant, after all - and however plotty a story might be, it still has to, ahem, stand on it's own merits ;-)
Thanks once again for your review; it's particularly nice to know which lines were most effective - and feel free to steal insults for use in RL!
I'm particularly pleased that the banter and sparring worked for you, here, as that was how I imagined the heart of the story: essentially, two quite-different equals who like arguing. *g* That comes with some nuance, though, in that we see how the interactions affect Minerva deep-down; she's perhaps not as impervious as she seems. I was imaging that Rufus wasn't either - he's just terrible at showing it, until the very end(!)
- Speaking of 'the very end', I'm also glad to hear that the sense of a bittersweet conclusion came across to you on reading this. I toyed with the idea of giving the fic a more explicit coda (where Minerva attends Rufus' funeral), but I finally decided not to... thinking that perhaps letting the reader make that link with canon for him/herself might actually be more effective than spelling it out. Mmmm. *ponders*.
Finally, I'm really glad that you liked the sex-in-the-staffroom scene! This is daily_deviant, after all - and however plotty a story might be, it still has to, ahem, stand on it's own merits ;-)
Thanks once again for your review; it's particularly nice to know which lines were most effective - and feel free to steal insults for use in RL!
PurpleFluffyCat x